The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 1.4 million patients in the United States are affected by inflammatory bowel disease. The two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, are each characterized by recurrent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.
Ulcerative colitis is characterized by a diffuse mucosal inflammation that is confined to the colon and rectum and is associated with diarrhea accompanied by mucus and blood discharge, cramping, abdominal pain, inflammation and edema of the mucous membrane and patches of ulceration. Crohn's disease primarily affects the ileum and jejunum and to a lesser extent the colon and is frequently associated with diarrhea, cramping, loss of appetite and weight loss with local abscesses and scarring.
In response to acute and chronic inflammation, a subject (e.g., a mammal) often produces reactive oxygen species (e.g., superoxide and hydrogen peroxide) capable of causing tissue injury, particularly in subjects that cannot effectively degrade or neutralize such reactive oxygen species. The accumulating reactive oxygen species promote inflammation by their ability to oxidize and degrade essential cellular constituents, including the induction of damage to cellular nucleic acids. In addition, reactive oxygen species may act as pro-inflammatory signaling agents and may also activate certain transcription factors that are known to up-regulate the expression of genes involved in the inflammatory response (Connor E M, et al. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases; 2(2): 133-147 (1996)). Because the gastrointestinal tract is subject to oxidative stress in response to insults or other pathological conditions, the presence and accumulation of reactive oxygen species may further contribute to the inflammation that characterizes inflammatory bowel disease.
There is a need for methods of providing an antioxidant effect, as well as a need for as methods of preventing and/or treating the effects of oxidation, for example the effects of oxidation resulting from or related to reactive oxygen species and/or oxidative stress.
Novel therapies or preventative measures are also needed for treating and/or preventing inflammatory diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract, such as inflammatory bowel disease. Particularly needed are safe and effective therapies that are capable of mitigating (e.g., reducing or improving symptoms) the damaging effects that reactive oxygen species exert on the cells and tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. Also needed are new therapies that can successfully induce remission and prevent relapse of inflammatory bowel disease.